A Little News

Talk about your Cinderella story. Lubbock Christian University made an improbably run to the NAIA National Championship completing a sweep of University of Mobile yesterday in Decatur. Improbable because this is the first year that LCU has fielded a team and also, during the tournament, they fell into the loser’s bracket and had to win two games over an experienced Mobile team. Congratulations to LCU.

Shooting this championship, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is one of my favorite things and one of the things that makes working here nice. I love championships of any kind in any sport but the competition is so good with athletes at this level that it makes the experience even more enjoyable. Technically, there is not much to talk about. The only problem was the sun provided a high backlight on an absolutely clear day causing some harsh contrast but there was pretty much nothing I could do about it. I shot about three quarters of the time with a D2Hs using the 400mm f3.5 manual focus lens and the rest of the time using the D2H and an 80-200mm f2.8 lens. The exposure was around 1/3200 at f3.5, ISO 200. No problem with motion blur anyway.

I shot part of the games from a scissor lift that really got you up in the air. I don’t like to sway around all that much, especially while looking through a long lens. It causes motion sickness for me. It is a little like being out on the ocean bobbing up and down while looking through a lens. Most of the time I spent a little closer to the ground just getting high enough to shoot over the fence. Add the straw hat and a nice cold drink and all is right in the world!

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Joe Johnston, a staff photographer for the Tribune in San Luis Obispo in California, gets the nod as our featured reader photo of this week. Joe’s portrait of Cal Poly pitcher Eric Massingham has a lot going for it and I wanted to point out some of the strong points.

First, the lighting is excellent. If you look at the photo and do a little Strobist exercise you can see Joe used two lights. His main light is a Canon strobe shot through an umbrella about a foot away from the guy’s face. The second light is positioned about four feet out of the frame to the left and is direct and about a +1 stop hotter than the main light giving him the excellent separation.

The next thing you are going to see is how Joe used a low angle to give him a clean, and interesting background. When ever you have a poor background, go low angle. The sky is an endlessly variable background that is totally free. Use it liberally. The slightly overcast condition also gives him some depth and texture in the background which adds a layer of interest. Although Joe did not tell me this in his description, I suspect he has underexposed the sky by at least 1/2 stop allowing the strobes to set the key of the photograph.

I highly recommend you check out Joe’s Flickr photostream. It is a beautiful collection of photos that will inspire you. Also check out a story Joe did for the Tribune. The story details a kayak trip he and a reporter did along the Pacific coast covering 100 miles in six days. Okay, now he is just showing off but if you live on the California coast, why not? Joe is 34 years old and has been at the paper for the past eight years. He has been a working photojournalist for ten years total.

Photos copyright Joe Johnston, The Tribune.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent those of The Decatur Daily or The Tribune.

There is never really an automatic in anything you shoot so take this with a grain of salt. If there is an automatic photo in baseball, it is a shot of the pitchers and hitters. I say it is an automatic shot because they are in the same relative place on every play and they are both involved in every play and, if you work your angles and moments and light, you can get really nice pictures. Shooting the pitchers and hitters also give you that fall back photo you can rely on. Just don’t overdo it.

My favorite angle for shooting the pitcher is from directly behind home plate. I will use the batter and catcher/umpire to frame the pitcher when I can. An alternative, especially for softball where that distance is greatly reduced, is to focus on the pitcher’s face which can be very expressive. People used to tell me when I pitched in high school that I made the most awful faces so I have kept that in mind and I try to shoot facial expression whenever I can.

Once again, my stand by lens if the 400mm. It get me tight enough for a good shot on most baseball fields and it puts me right in the eyeballs on softball fields. The only problem you can run into is the shallow depth of field which can throw significant portions of the pitcher out of focus as he or she moves toward the plate to deliver the pitch. My little trick for baseball is it to find the place on the mound where the pitcher’s front foot lands and prefocus there. Usually the pitcher releases the ball about that time and his face will be leaning toward the plate. In softball, the pitching motion is entirely different and the most dramatic portion of the delivery is where the pitcher has the ball at the top of the circular rotation which puts it over her head and slightly behind her. This usually happens when her front foot is in midair during the middle of the delivery. This means I prefocus about halfway between the pitching rubber and where her feet land. You can tweak you focus by checking the image in you lcd display and work it as needed to find the right focal point.

For shooting photos of the batter, I like to be down the first baseline for right handers and down the third baseline for lefties. This position puts me facing the batter. This is not hard and fast because some nice photos can be made from behind the batter as he follows through on the swing or gets hit by the pitch. The 400mm is very, very tight when I am close enough to get expression. This can work for me at times and against me at other times. For a more loose image I will switch to the 80-2oo. If I want to get the ball coming off the bat, the shorter lens is usually better.

The real trick to shooting the hitter is to get the person, the ball and the bat all in the frame at the same time. Lacking this bit of luck, I will settle for the ball and the person. You can time this as you shoot regardless of the speed of your motor drive. I admit that 8fps is much better than 3 fps but it really is all about timing. No matter how fast the motor drive, you will never have the ball in more than one frame.

Keep in mind that shooting the hitter and pitcher is nice as long as it is not overdone. I use this technique as my primary picture when I am pressed for time or in one of those games where the pitching is the story. A kid may be throwing a shutout or a no-hitter and you better have a good frame of the pitcher from those games. Likewise, when a person is having a great game at the plate, it is a good idea to have a photo of him too. He doesn’t have to be slugging a homerun but you definitely need something of him at the plate.

About the photos: All these images are shot with the 400mm f3.5. The top photo is from an NAIA National Championship game where the young lady pitching was dominating the tournament and turned out to be the MVP. She is a bit intense. The second photo is from a high school baseball game between cross-town rivals Decatur and Austin with this photo being of the Austin pitcher. Just a cool bit of motor drive timing placed the ball right on the pitcher’s nose. The next photo is from a youth league where the little guy is attempting to bunt. From my own playing days I found it more useful to keep the eyes open but it did make for a nice picture. And finally, this shot comes from a high school baseball game and another bit of motor driven happiness caught the ball hanging just in front of the hitter’s face.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

I love baseball. I loved playing baseball and I love shooting baseball. As a kid I dreamed of playing major league baseball. I kept all the bubble gum cards and still have a few of my well worn favorites stuffed away in a shoe box in my closet. I loved the Big Red Machine and Johnny Bench and Pete Rose were my favorite players. That Charlie Hustle attitude is still part of me even though I don’t get to play baseball anymore. There just isn’t much demand for 44 year olds who don’t do steroids!

Still, I love to shoot the game and I really don’t care if it is children playing in their youth leagues or high school players and I would love to shoot a pro game someday. Baseball is a game of moments. A key hit, a diving catch or an important play at the plate. You have to be ready because the game can lull you into a sense of complacency. My dad coached me as a little boy and he used to tell me to know what I would do with the ball before any pitch was made for every at bat. In other words, stay mentally prepared.

Anticipating in the action can really increase your chances of getting a nice image. Is there a runner on second? Get ready for a play at the plate because any ball hit to the outfield can result in a close play at home. Lead off hitter get on first? Be ready for a steal or a double play situation around second base. Power hitter at the plate? Be ready for him to pull the ball down one of the lines. Knowing the game helps but just watching tendencies will also improve your chances.

I mostly cover high school and youth leagues and most of the time a ground ball will be hit to either shortstop or third base so it just makes sense to prefocus on the shortstop. Knowing that a runner might steal a base lets me be prefocused on that base. Especially in softball, I am always ready for a ball to be hit to the third baseman. Then everything becomes a matter of timing rather than a mad scramble to try and keep up with the action. There is nothing worse in shooting baseball than being half a second behind the play because you will never get that key photo. Anticipate and be prepared.

That doesn’t mean it is hopeless if you don’t know the game very well. Famed photographer George Silk who shot for Life magazine back in the hey day came from Europe and didn’t know anything about American sports. His theory was to go out and just make great photographs at a sporting event the same as he would covering any other event. His approach stands in stark contrast to guys like Neil Leifer who, if there is an icon of American sports photography, is that icon. Both men were great photographers and they used opposite approaches. No matter what approach you take, go out there and make great photographs. The action will come in time.

That reminds me. It doesn’t matter what level of the sport you are covering, shoot like it is a major league game. Some of my best baseball images have come from youth league games. If you approach the little guys with energy and enthusiasm you will find more emotion, more of the ball flying around and more of the fun of sports than in any other place. This game really is great at all levels. Give me baseball, hot dogs and apple pie pretty much any day and I am a happy man.

About the photos: The first photo is one I got yesterday on a play at the plate. The high angle cleans up the background and, fortunately, the ump did not move into the frame as sometimes happens when shooting from the third base side. The rest is just motor drive and a nice moment. The second photo is from the shortstop attempting to make a play on a hard hit ball. This, being a softball game, was an 80-200mm lens also from a high angle. When you can get a little elevation you can really clean up the backgrounds.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and are not necessarily those of my employer.

Most of the action in baseball obviously happens on the infield. Naturally, I like to shoot the outfield. I think my favorite baseball pictures have been of outfielders. First of all, those photos are more rare. Secondly, you can get some nice images that simply don’t happen on the infield. And, last but not least, since they are harder to get, the satisfaction level of nailing a nice outfield shot is much higher than having a nice photo of a play at second base.

Having said all that, don’t go to a game depending on an outfield shot. Do everything you can to make sure you get a publishable shot quickly. After you have something in the bag that you can depend on, then you can start thinking outfield. That reminds me, always get an insurance photo right away when you get to a ball game. A shot of the pitcher for both teams will usually do the trick. I say this because I can’t remember all the times the editor has called me while I am at a baseball game and directed me to go somewhere else right away. Editors don’t seem to understand that shooting baseball is far more time intensive than any other sport because the action is harder to come by. Basketball, football, soccer, tennis and even golf are far easier to shoot in terms of the time it takes to get a good shot. Baseball is a slower moving game and action happens sporadically and sometimes not at all.

Now, back to the outfield. Like I said before, the 400mm is my favorite lens for baseball. On the DX format it gives you enough reach to cover all the outfield positions from either the first baseline or the third baseline. The real trick when shooting the outfielders is actually getting the ball in the photo. Even with an 8 fps camera the ball moves incredibly fast. If you shoot vertical you will have a far greater chance at having the ball outside the glove on fly balls. There is a trade off because if the outfielder is diving, the horizontal format is better. You might be able to switch but don’t count on it.

I have to shoot manual focus because my lens is manual but, in many ways, manual focus is better. If the outfielder is pretty far away from you, the AF sensor may not have enough of the player to focus on and cause the camera to back focus and you will miss the photo. Life is full of tough choices! If I could AF then I probably would AF most of the time. Since I can’t, I have become very accustomed to shooting manual so it is not a huge deal.

In order to have the highest chance to get a photo of the ball in the air, you have to start shooting a fraction of a second earlier than you might ordinarily begin. The ball travels incredibly fast and you will have an outfielder with his glove open with no ball in one frame and then the ball will be in the glove on the next frame and that is shooting at 8 fps. Start shooting just a bit earlier and you will maximize your chances. Or, if you have lightning reflexes, just go ahead and set you camera to single frame advance and show us all how it is done!

If you are manual focusing it will be best to get an idea of where the ball is most likely to go and prefocus on that fielder. If the pitcher is throwing really fast, most of the balls hit to the outfield will go to center field or to the opposite field from the batter. In other words, a right handed batter against a fast pitcher is more likely to hit to center or right. Just the opposite for a lefty. He will more likely hit a fast pitcher to left field or center field. If the pitcher is throwing slower or tosses a bunch of salad, you can figure on the hitters pulling the ball. For those of you who don’t know the baseball lingo, that means that the right handed hitter will hit to the left side of the field and the left handed hitter will hit to the right side of the field. Just taking advantage of this bit of information will maximize your number of good photos. By the way, if you don’t know what it means for a pitcher to throw salad, well, I can’t do much for you!

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Alright. Let’s get this over with first. Shooting second base. If you have shot any baseball at all you know that the most reliable place on the field to shoot action is around second base. This also makes it the most overdone shot in baseball whether it is the acrobatic moves around the bag of a pro second baseman or shortstop turning a double play or you local Little League kids trying to steal a base. By the way, this whole series will mix baseball and softball so when you read baseball you can assume softball is included too unless it is specifically stated otherwise.

Since second base is where you can almost always get a money shot, it is a good idea to pay attention to second base whether it is with a remote or whether you have only one camera and have to follow action. If you are not using a remote, make sure you pre-focus if you know there is a high probability of something happening there. Auto focus is fine unless you are shooting from behind the fence which I do an awful lot. AF can also get screwed up if you are using shutter release AF because your AF sensor may get off the subject and focus somewhere in center field. It is just more sensible to manually focus and be ready.

My lens of choice for baseball is the 400mm. On the Nikon DX format, this gives you a rough equivalent of 600mm so you can get really tight on the action around the bag. This is just about too tight if you are shooting softball because most fields are considerably smaller than baseball fields. Same goes for youth sports. I still can usually be found with the 400 attached to one body and an 80-200 on a second body. Most of the time I am not shooting with a remote so if the 400 is too tight then the 80-200 is right there and all I have to do is grab it. The 400 I have is that ancient, manual focus piece I have talked about before. You remember, it is the one with the Egyptian hieroglyphics scribed on it!

Now you are all set so where do you shoot from? The traditional place is along the first base side looking up the base path either slightly in front of first base or slightly behind first base. Watch the umpire and first base coach and try to go somewhere they won’t be blocking your view. Now, you can get a bunch of shots from that position and it is my favorite place to shoot from. I can cover most of the infield and outfield so that makes is my most dependable shooting position. However, don’t get boring. Move around. Shoot from anywhere else. One of my favorite spots is behind the outfield fence looking back toward the infield. It is not a money position so make sure you have something you can depend on before you go circling the field. When you do get something from an outfield position, you will have a traditional play at a traditional base with a non-traditional point of view and that is what shooting sports is all about.

Don’t forget to follow the action all the way through the play. Some of the best stuff happens right after the play ends. A player yells at the ump or slams down his helmet or shows some form of emotion either positive or negative. Many times, that alone will transform an ordinary picture into an extraordinary one. I have a tendency to become a little too focused on just the action and have to force myself to follow through for the reaction. It is a good thing to train yourself to do. Reaction is often much better than the action.

You can’t control all that many variables so make the most out of the ones you can control. In many cases you can control where you shoot from so make the most of the opportunity. That is the primary reason I like to shoot from outside the fence. It never bothers me to shoot through, or over, a fence. I am using manual focus anyway so the AF is not an issue. Being outside the fence allows me a lot more freedom of movement and I can work through several shooting positions with a minimum effort and disruption. Most of the action in baseball happens in fairly predictable areas so focus is not nearly the issue it is in some of the more fluid sports like football or basketball or soccer. This gives one added advantage to baseball which we will discuss more later and that is the ability to compose and frame photos. For now, we will stick with second base so grab the 400, a bag of popcorn and take me out to the ball park!

About the photos:  Both of these photos were taken with the 400mm f3.5.  The top photo was taken from the bed of a truck parked behind the left field fence where I enjoyed shooting a couple of innings of a game and conversing with friends.  The lower photo is an after action photo of a kid who was caught in a pickoff play at second base.  He is reacting to the ump’s call and is clearly not happy.  It was a much nicer photo than the actual play itself.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.